Hunting in Sweden

I arrived in Oslo airport with a fresh 20cm of Snow on the ground,hurriedly I made my way to the Baggage area to pick up my beloved Shotgun along with other passengers who had less important things to collect. Unfortunately although I arrived in Eastern Norway my Gun had not.During heated discussions with the Airline they finally got my Gun onto a plane to Oslo,sadly I was 7 minutes to late for my flight to Cobenhagen so I had to buy another one.

There was no problem with Customs in Denmark as I forgot what was in the Long Box and absent mindedly strolled though "nothing to declare".Whoops.

During this exciting time,my friend who I was hunting with managed to find another Train route as I was flighting in to late to catch the original Train to Sweden.In addition to find this out,he and his mate Ole drove at least a couple of hours round trip to meet me at the new destination.

We arrived late at Emils house and after a bit of a chat hit the sack, anticipating the weeks hunting ahead.

The hunting area is made up of small Farm's and Plantation Forests that would be familiar to alot of Hunters.For the Most part you sit or stand in a Platform raised above the ground,the guys with dogs move the Deer (hopefully) towards the Hunters and theres a chance of a shot.

The Dogs are mostly Small and equipt with GPS trackers on their collars.They don't chase hard on the heels of the Animals,instead they move following the ground scent of the Deer and the Deer are keeping in front of them.

I sat in my High Seat not really knowing what to expect,hearing dogs barking distant and near,before a shot echo'd to my right.After smoking a few rolly's and generally being a bit cold and bored I saw movement to my right.Slowly I squirmed around and saw what I thought was a Dog ambling though the Trees,reality kicked in and I thumbed the Hammer back on my Shotgun.Giving the Deer a bit of holdover I let fly and down it went.

After a much needed warm up around the fire and some hot dogs we moved to another area,two Deer fell in the First drive.

The second drive of the day was around a lake where Ole Morten took a Deer with Three legs,the stump had healed up fairly well but was still a bit weepy.

We hunted the second day but as we got wasted on Monday night I can't recall anything.On the Tuesday night a storm blew in and cancelled out hunting for the next day.Erickssons Father was kind enough to buy us lunch and take us to a Gunshop with a large display of second hand Rifles,Drillings,Shotguns etc .Good to see some older firearms of high quality for very decent prices.

On the Thursday one of the Neighbours organised a Hunt over his and Ericksons property,a freindly group of people gathered where we indroduced ourselves telling where we were from,in addition to this the Dogs were also shown.After the first drive we went into a dining area where a hot lunch was served in front of an open Fire.

Later that day I was sitting in a Stand after entertaining myself by counting Snowflakes for several hours when, after a nearby shot startled me a Roe Deer dashed into veiw.With its Chest partly obscured by a Pine trunk,I slotted a Bullet from the 222 into its vitals and promptly the Deer took off.After going about 10 meters it ran out of thrust and collapsed in a Heap.

Shortly after that,Emils Dad arrived congratulating me and then leading my on a journey though a partly frozen Swamp that filled my Boots up.Primo!

Friday saw a break in the Weather and I installed myself in another stand,this time with a .308 overlooking some nice open Forest.I estimated the range out to some of the landmarks and then after a while saw a Moose heading off on a Tangent into the Trees,no Moose were allowed to be shot but it was nice to see.A short time later a Roe Deer was running around in the Cutover,I was to far away in my Stand so after climbing down I ran down the road in an attempt to gain the edge of the Treeline where I would have the chance of a Shot.Just as I topped the Berm by the road,the Deer jumped away to my right..It must have been running unknowingly towards me.Thats hunting.

We had time for a breif Hunt on the Morning we were to begin our Road Trip back to Norway,no Deer were taken.

All together ten Deer were taken,with Ericksson topping the Scoreboard with Four Deer,not to mention the "Blond Doe" he accounted for on a couple of nights.

I would like to express my thanks to Emil,Mika,Ole,Rasmuss and Family for giving me the opportunity to hunt in Sweden and helping with Transport and accommodation

Wow thanks for the invite J/K. Looks like a good time was had by all. Did you eat any of those dog sized deer. Curious if it tastes like chicken or th venison we get from Muleys.
What regulations did you have to clear for carrying a weapon in a foreign country/

Wow thanks for the invite J/K. Looks like a good time was had by all. Did you eat any of those dog sized deer. Curious if it tastes like chicken or th venison we get from Muleys.
What regulations did you have to clear for carrying a weapon in a foreign country/

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The Roe Deer are very mild in taste,I can't remember what Mule Deer taste like,but I have shot plenty of them when I worked in Canada.

I live in Norway,so taking my Shotgun or any gun to a Scandinavian Country is a breeze.You just Email the Police in the Country where you are going and send them another Email when you are back,telling them you have exited the Country.

Looks like a great place to hunt- I'll have to tell my cousin in Svalov, Sweden to try deer 'hunting' with a shotgun next time- he's killed 2 deer (vehicular homicide), one of which was with his motorcycle (surprised he's around to talk about it!). Also looks a lot more comfortable than when I used to go up to W Virginia to hunt- we were either going up a cliff or down a cliff. To top it off, the deer were smaller than our grain fed herds in S Maryland.